Politicians are our main problem – NLC President

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Abdulwaheed Omar, on Thursday attributed most religious crises in the country to politicians’ manipulation.

Speaking at a the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria Annual October Lecture in Abuja,Omar said the politicians were using religion for their selfish interests.

The lecture was titled: ‘Religious Tolerance and Peaceful Co-Existence (Muslim and Christian Perspectives).

He said: “The problem we have in this country is that religion is being used as bedrock for some individual to pursue their personal interests. Our politicians use this effectively in our communities. We were living peacefully together in this country. These problems are arising now because we have polluted and desecrated our communities.

“Religious houses must go back to the drawing boards and start to separate what is for God from what is not for God. Dialogue is the answer and our leaders should decide to do the right things.”

Delivering a lecture from the Muslim perspective, Prof. Ibrahim Suleiman, also maintained that politicians are the main cause of problems in the country.

“In the communities, we don’t have problems with religions. The problem is with our politicians. I can assure you that there will not be any war on religion in this country. If there is going to be any, it will be war on injustice.”

“Another problem is that a lot of bad money is going into the various religious bodies. Religion is being polluted by people who are already polluted. For instance a minister in government donating part of stolen money to a religious body is polluting the religion.

“The problem of Nigeria includes decay of ethics, decay of power, and decay of happiness, which will make life itself to decay. That is the problem we are facing in Nigeria. The failure of the state is hugely responsible for our problem,” Prof. Suleiman stated